Dollar holds near 6-month peak on global growth fears

Reuters, London :
The dollar held close to a six-month peak as jitters over China and global growth weighed on risk appetite, while the yen strengthened as Japan’s top currency diplomat sent a warning about the currency after it earlier dropped to a 10-month low.

The yen strengthened by as much as 0.4 percent to 147.02 per US dollar after Japan’s top currency diplomat, Masato Kanda, said they won’t rule out options if speculative moves persist, the strongest warning since mid-August.

By 0813 GMT, it stood at 147.47 per dollar, compared with 147.82 earlier in the session, which was its lowest since Nov. 4.

The Asian currency has hovered around the key 145-per-dollar level for the past few weeks, leading traders to keep a wary eye on signs of intervention by Tokyo.

Kanda, Japan’s vice-minister of finance for international affairs, has been the central figure in the country’s efforts to stem the sharp decline of the yen since last year.